


Past and Present

by ExtraPenguin



Category: Memories - Within Temptation (Song), Original Work
Genre: F/F, Hard Science Fiction, Lesbians in Space, Nonlinear Narrative, Science Fiction, Smuggling, Technology, space travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 02:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6546184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraPenguin/pseuds/ExtraPenguin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life continues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past and Present

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kaesa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaesa/gifts).



> With thanks to Airotkiv for listening to my ideas flail and asking the most important question of "What then?", and to Dragonsigma for betaing.
> 
> Equations from [Project Rho](http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/slowerlight.php).
> 
>  
> 
> [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9tL4Mgzjx0)

The amaranths were trying to take over the hydroponics again. Lin got on to pulling out those of the red blooms which threatened to take over the bean plot, moving carefully in the high gees. At least the small amount of kelp in the corner couldn't be overwhelmed.

 

“I think we should grow a cereal in addition to the beans and the vegetables”, Remilia said.

They were in the ship's small hydroponics section. Lin brushed a dark hair from Remilia's forehead. “You know we'll never be self-sufficient with regards to food.”

“Oh, I know.” Remilia leaned on her. “I just thought that having some more nutritional capacity would make haggling with the merchants easier.”

Lin squeezed her and smiled. “Just like you. So, what should we grow?”

“Amaranth”, Remilia said. “Amaranthus cruentus, for the grain and leaves.”

 

Lin preferred to do calculations the old-fashioned way, on a small blackboard with chalk and a calculator. The method's great benefit was the erasability – if one wanted, there would be no trace of anything troublesome for anyone to find. (Once upon a time, she had used a slide rule – a K&E loglog duplex decitrig – but Remilia had found an old banged-up Casio that could be made to forget all that had passed through its memory with only a tap of the power button.)

She had done these many times before, of course, but still she had to re-do them for her own comfort. The maximum acceleration that her body could sustain long-term and the time elapsed in the outside frame of reference gave forth the proper time, from which she could calculate the amount of food and fuel required. Multiply by two due to the brachistochrone trajectory, and. Well. She would survive. It was technically not too late to turn back, but she'd rather not.

 

Lin plotted a course from the asteroid mining colony of Newton's Landing to Dawn obit. She knew how many days of food they had, which gave her a maximum travel time. Their cargo was thankfully nonperishable rocks. The celestial bodies were aligned for a Hohmann transfer orbit. Lin smiled. Very small fuel requirements, compared to everything else, and thus a hefty profit margin.

Remilia entered the piloting cabin. “So, how're the planets today?”

Lin swiveled to face her and smirked. “Hohmann transfer orbit.”

Remilia smiled. “Excellent.” She sat onto Lin's lap like a cat onto its throne. “I got the extra into place. There's a lot of it – apparently the regs are making motions of cracking down, so everyone's selling their bad day's surplus.” She yawned. “Though our dear fence might be a bit overburdened with ore. Perhaps our next haul should go further afield.”

Lin looked at her small orrery and rotated it forwards to the time when they'd be in orbit. It looked like there would be a launch window for the Hawkins' Hope hub in the outer belt soon after. She queried major object placement from the main computer of Newton's Landing.

“Hawkins' Hope with another Hohmann transfer going out”, she told Remilia.

Remilia gave a celebratory laugh. “You know what we should spend the profits on?”

“What?” Lin asked.

“Tea.” Remilia smiled. “The finest green tea from the foothills of the Olympians for the finest navigator in Dawn-system space.” With that, she turned around and kissed Lin.

 

Lin lay down on the bed and let the 1.2 gees pull down on her. Getting along in the increased gravity took care of the exercise requirements. She had plenty of stored food for the trip.

Her alarm rang.

She had everything she needed for the trip save coffee. The caffeine headaches at the beginning had been intense, but the coffee stores at Newton's Landing had been under reg guard and had thus not opened for her.

She gently rolled off the bed, pulled on her jumpsuit, and crawled into the galley. She toasted some amaranth seeds and ate them with kelp and molasses.

 

Lin was sipping the luxuriant green tea Remilia had gotten her some months ago when her discreet wristcom beeped. She immediately put down the microgravity-safe cup, initialized system boot, and only then looked at her and Remilia's emergency communication method.

The small screen read only: _They caught me. Run._

Lin's eyes stung and a lump would soon magically appear in her throat, but for now, she was running on pure adrenalin, her heart hammering in her chest as she went through the routine she'd practiced so many times.

The station comms tried to ping her. She turned off communications notifications.

At last, everything was ready for launch. She disconnected from the station, let inertia carry her a bit away, and only then turned on the engines. She was but a smuggler, and boarding ships outside stations was damn near impossible. She was also not an asshole, so she kept her exhaust pointed firmly away from the station and any other ships in the vicinity.

The _Eternal Stream_ was safely away. Lin plotted a minimum-fuel route to Newton's Landing, where much was owed to her, then redid her course after realizing that she could spend twice the time en route since there was one mouth less to feed.

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks at half light-speed. The lump magically appeared in her throat. After she was safely en route, she went to hydroponics to look at the amaranths and cry.

 

The death sentence was not in use on Dawn. Instead, all criminals received long prison sentences. Some decades prior, an enterprising politician had calculated that cryostorage was cheaper than imprisonment. As a result, criminals with sentences measured in years served their sentences in cryosuspension.

All such sentences were broadcast to the whole solar system. Remilia Kraz was sentenced to a century in a cryobox. Her partner in crime, Lin Nashira, was sentenced to the same in absentia.

Lin sat down once more, and worked out the course. A brachistochrone trajectory, so for each leg, the outside time would be fifty years. The most she'd be willing to experience long-term was 12 m/s², so that gave a proper time of around 1.21×10⁸ seconds, or 3.83 years. Multiply by two for a total proper time of 7.66 years.

Remilia had always had a few years on her. She probably wouldn't mind the age difference reversing.

Lin sat down in hydroponics and looked at the amaranths. Relativity was a truly wonderful thing.

**Author's Note:**

>  _Rejected titles:_  
>  Amaranth  
> The Silence of the Plants  
> In Silent Moments  
> From the Other End of Time  
> Wish You Were Here  
> No Other Way


End file.
